Good accounts for international students?

US_Mom

I am from the US and my son will be attending the University of Glasgow as an international student (i.e. for his whole degree). As a non UK citizen he is not eligible for all the special student accounts.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good account - needs debit and ATM card with low fees, online banking, cheap to transfer money from the US and hopefully no monthly fee. Does not need overdraft (they won't give it to him) and no need for high saving rate though it would be nice. Any help would be most appreciated! Thanks

US Mom

bewildered123

http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/bank_account.php if you click on the first pdf link on that website, there's a table comparing the different options for international students. I would suggest he opens an account at a bank very near to or on the university campus as those staff are used to dealing with international students, so you minimise hassle as they know what they are doing.

Voyager2002

The first response says it all really. However, the cheapest way to transfer money from the USA is not through your bank account but through a money broker: look at the discussion on the Travel section of this board. I have had good experiences with Custom House (https://www.xe.com) who are owned by Western Union, but other firms are doubtless just as good.

awayinchina

Hey,

My option was to go with HSBC (as I did 2 x 6month exchanges is china) this way I had no withdrawel charges. I used to date a US student and she had a citibank dual currency. She also opened a student account in the UK with natwest and just transfered between citi bank to natwest.
Have a look what banks in the US do dual currency as the students mom you could hold that account and transfer between the accounts from the USA.
I don't know what the charges were, but the US student said it was the cheapest way for her although she was paying a charge for it.

it might be worth looking at HSBC (USA branches) but go into the bank!

good luck

Voyager2002

awayinchina wrote: »

Hey,

My option was to go with HSBC (as I did 2 x 6month exchanges is china) this way I had no withdrawel charges. I used to date a US student and she had a citibank dual currency. She also opened a student account in the UK with natwest and just transfered between citi bank to natwest.
Have a look what banks in the US do dual currency as the students mom you could hold that account and transfer between the accounts from the USA.
I don't know what the charges were, but the US student said it was the cheapest way for her although she was paying a charge for it.

it might be worth looking at HSBC (USA branches) but go into the bank!

good luck

You need to be aware of exchange rates as well as fees.

I used to have a Citibank "dual currency" account (actually I had both pound sterling and US dollar accounts with Citibank in London). I could use these accounts (together with a US-based Citibank account) to move money across the Atlantic in seconds, but the exchange rate was not very favourable. So this was very far from being the cheapest way to transfer money (the question asked by the OP) although under some circumstances the speed of the service would be worth the extra cost. Anyway, Citibank now have monthly charges that make this a very expensive option.